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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet l.

W. E. HALE 8v N. C; BASSETT.

ELBVATOR (No Model.) 3 Sheets- Sheet 2.

W. E. HALE 8v N. C. BASSETT. BLBVATOR No. 419,148. Patented Jan. '7,1890.

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fltfozuclgi (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

W. E. HALE au N. C'. BASSBTT.

ELEVATDR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VILLIAM E. IIALE AND NORMAN C.BASSET' OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN- ORS TO THE HYDRAULIC ELEVATORCOMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

E L EVAT O R SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 419,148,dated January '7, 1890.

Application filed January 30, 1889. Serial No. 298,124. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM E. HALE and NORMAN C. BAssETT, bothcitizens of the United States, and residents of the city of Chicago, inthe county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Elevators, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates, mainly, to that class of elevators in which anelastic motor-fluid acts upon the piston of the engine through anintervening body of non.- compressible fluid; and ourinvention consistsin constructing the parts of an elevator, as fully set forthhereinafter, so as to utilize the power of the elastic fiuid to as greatan extent as possible, avoid the waste of either fluid, and facilitatethe operation of the engine.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is an elevation illustrating oneform of elevating apparatus embodying our invention.

Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are enlarged part-sectional views of parts of theapparatus, showing the valves in different position.

In that class of elevators in which a body of incompressible iiuid isinterposed between the piston and an elastic motor-fluid it has beencustomary to force the liquid, as water, out of a receptacle and againstthe piston by the introduction into the receptacle under pressure of-themotor-fluid, as air, and the water is carried back to the receptacle onbeing discharged from the elevator-cylinder, and the air is admitted tosaid receptacle to discharge the water therefrom when the piston is tobe again depressed. In all constructions heretofore adopted the movementof the piston in either direction renders it necessary to carry thewater to or from the air and water receptacle or vessel, the water isemployed only upon one side of the piston, and the advantages resultingfrom circulating the water from end to end of the cylinder on thedeseen-t of the load'cannot be secured. To secure the advantages of suchcirculation while retaining also those resulting from the use of anelastic motor-fluid, we make use of two vessels, one to receive bothelastic and inelastic fluids, which we shall term the air and watervessel,7 although other fluids may be used, and the other to receive theinelastic fluid discharged from the cylinder, and

which vessel we shall term the discharget-ank, and we provide for thetransfer of the liquid from the tank to the vessel during the time thepiston is moving upward to lower vthe load, whether the same be upon acage,

platform, or the grapple, block, or other loadsupporting device of acrane.

In the construction of appara-tus illustrated in the drawings we haveshown an ordinary elevator-engine having a vertical cylinder A, pistonB, connected by flexible suspensories C with a cage X, and provided withcirculating-pipesl 2, and with a valve device D, having a casing S withinlet, discharge, and circulating ports communicating with an inletpipe.5, discharge -pipe et, and circulatingpipes l 2. This valve device Weterm the water-valve device, and, as shown in Figs. 2 to 7, the valvethereof consists of a pistonvalve G, for controlling the discharge, adiskvalve 30, for controlling the passage between the inlet andcirculating pipes, and a counterbalancing-disk 3l, all upon a stein 32,which may be raised and lowered, as usual, by turning a pulley 19, fromwhich a handrope 1S passes around guide-pulleys to the cage X. i

The cage is raised bylifting the valve 6 t0- ward the position shown inFig. 2, to admit the liquid to bear on the top of the pistou B and topermit that below the piston to iiow to the discharge-pipe et, and thecage will descend when the valve is moved to the position shown in Fig.3, so that the piston B can rise under the weight of the cage and theliquid circulate from the top to the bottom of the cylinder A, throughthe pipes l and 2, and through the valve-casing 3.

The general features of the apparatus thus far described, except thevalve 30, do not differ materially from those of ordinary elevators inwhich water-pressure is used to move the piston; but in order toeffectively make use of air or other elastic duid-pressure we supply thecylinder, circulating-pi pes, and valve device D with a body ofincompressible iiuid, as water, oil, glycerine, or other like liquid,and discharge the same from the cylinder into a tank E, and connect thesaid tank with the air and water vessel F, which communicates with theinlet-pipe 5 at the bottom and at the top with an air-supply pipe 2Othrough IOO pipe 9, in which is the valve device G, that controls the owof the elastic fluid to and from the vessel. As shown,the valve deviceG, which we term the air-valve device, although it may control the iiowof steam or other elastic motor-fluid,consists of a casing 10, having aninlet-port 11,co1nn1unicating with the supply-pipe 20, an exhaust-port13, and an intermediate port 14, communicating with that portion9 of thesupply-pipe 20 leading to the vessel F, and the valve of said deviceconsists of two piston-valves and 11', connected by a stem 17.

The air-valveand the water-valve are preferably connected to move inunison, thereby Y facilitating` their manipulation from the cage.

One `means of connection is illustrated in Fig. 1 in which the pulley 19is shown as provided with a spiral groove receiving a stud upon thelever 24, connected with the stem 17 of the air-valve, so that therevolution of the pulley when the water valve is adjusted vibrates thelever and adjust-s the air-valve. A preferable construction is shown inFigs. 2, 3, and 4, in which the valve-stem 17 is inline with andconnected to the valve-stein 32, so that the movement of the latter bythe operator in the cage or otherwise will carry with it the air-valve.

The tank E is in communication with the vessel F through a channel orport controlled by a valve 8, and, as shown, the tank is above thevessel, and the valve is a check-valve, arranged to open under theweight of the water in the tank to discharge it into the vessel, but toclose against its seat when the pressure in the vessel exceeds that inthe tank.

Vhen the parts are in the position Ashown in Fig. 2, the car or loadwill be lifted, inasmuch'as the exhaust-port 13 of the air-valve 'isclosed, andthe air under pressure flows into the vessel F and forces outthe liquid through the inlet-pipe '5 and water-valve casing and portsand pipe 1 into the cylinder A, and upon the top of the piston whichdescends and raises the load, and the liquid below the piston escapesthrough the pipe 2 and discharge port and pipe 4 into the tank E so longas the piston continues Yto descend.

vThe movement of the cage is arrested by carrying the valves totheposition shown in Fig. 4, when the liquid will be locked between Ethevalve 6 and the main piston B, while the valve 16 closes the air-inletport 11 and the valve 15 closes the air-exhaust port 13. /Vhen the loadis to descend, the liquid, instead of being forced back into the tank,as heretofore in hydropneumatic apparatus, is circulated, asin hydraulicelevators, by adjusting the valves to the position shown in Fig. 3,sothat thewaterfrom above the piston B is carried by the lifting ofthepiston on the descent of the load through the pipe 1, valve-casing 3,and pipe 2' into the cylinder below t-he piston while the escape-port 13of the air-valve device is open, uand the Aairpasses from the vesselFuntil the pressure therein is no longer in excess of that in the tankE. The weight of the liquid in the tank E will now lift the valve S, andthe said liquid, which was dis ton, and this is effected by closing thecommunication between the vessel F and cylinder by means of thedisk-valve 30, and by providing a communication between the space belowthe piston and any part of the machine containing liquid and insertingin the channel an up wardly-openin g check-valve. Thus a pipe connectsthe pipe 2 and the bend of the pipe 4, (which is always supplied withliquid,) and contains the lifting' checkvalve 34, which rises when thereis any tendency to a vacuum in the lower part of the cylinder andpermits the water from the pipe 4. to flow into the same, the valveclosing as soon as there is any pressure above it.

.There is a valve 3C) on the water-valve stem, and the casing 8 has aport 50 between the vessel F and the circulating-pipes, the said portbeing closed by the valve 30 when the circulating-ports are incommunication, so

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that the liquid in the cylinder and circulating-pipes is cut off fromcommunication withadvance of the opening of the discharge-port.

Thus the parts are arranged as shown in Fig. 4, the valve 6 havinggreaterl lap than the IIO air-valve 16, which uncovers the air-inletport 11 before the valve 6 uncovers the dischargeport.l

The air-pressure upon the fluid in the vessel F may be regulatedautomatically, so as to' provide a safety means preventing the cagekfrom moving at any time at an excessive speed and regulating the volumeof air admitted to the vessel F to the weight of the load. Thus there isa valve 40 in that portion of the air-supply pipe communicating with thevessel F, with which valve is connected a suitable governor I, driven bythe movement of the cage-for instance, by an endless cable 41, connectedwith the cage'or other moving part of the engine and passing roundguide-pulleys and around the pulley 42 of the governor-whereby any undueincrease in the speed on the movement of the cage will carry the valvetoward its seat, throttle the passage, and reduce the pressure in thevessel. This automatic reduction of the airpressure results in a largesaving in the amount of air employed. For instance, if the load can beraised by one-half of the full air-pressure, the full pressure,imparting an increased speed to the cage, will cause the valve toapproach its seat, cutting off one-half of the air admitted to thevessel, in which the air will expand with a reduction of one-half of thepressure upon the liquid therein.

On elevators employing water in contact with the piston it is essentialto use packings, asa close fitting of the piston to the cylinder wouldresult in undue friction, and in elevators in which a compressible andincompressible fluid is employed Water is objectionable, inasmuch as thedischarge of air from under compression into the atmosphere or thepassing of the same through a reducing-valve results in a rapidexpansion and absorption of heat, which passes quickly from the Water,causing it to freeze in the pipes or passages. Even when water does notcome into contact With the expanding or compressed air the condensingand cooling of moisture in the atmosphere cause an objectionableaccumulation of ice upon parts of the apparatus. To avoid thesedifiiculties We make use of a liquid that will not rapidly part with itsheat, and preferably a lubricating-oil instead of water, the sameremaining fluid at an extremely low temperature and so thoroughly andeffectually lubricating` the piston and other parts that close fittingsmaybe secured without the use of packings.

In order to prevent the accumulation of ice in or upon the air-valvedevice, We provide the same with a surrounding heater of suitableconstruction that Will maintain it at a comparatively high temperature.Thus the heater may contain a surrounding chamber, in which hot water,air, or steam is circulated through pipes GO. (See Fig. t.)

lhile the tank E is preferably placed directly above the Vessel F, thisis not absolutely essential, and the valve 8, instead of being acheck-valve, may be opened positively. Thus an arm Gl, dotted lines,Fig. ,3, is secured to the stem of the valve S, and is connected bya rod62 with the valve-spindle 32, so that the valve S is positively openedas the valve 6 is closed and as the valve l5 opens the exhaust-air port.

lithout limiting ourselves to the precise construction and arran gement-ot' parts shown, We claiml. The combination, With the cylinder,piston, and valve device of an elevator-engine, of a vessel containing abody of incompressible liquid and communicating with the said valvedevice, and with a pipe provided with a valve to supply an elasticmotor-Huid under pressure, and a tank communicating with thedischarge-port of the elevator-valve device and connecting througha portprovided with a valve with the said vessel, substantially as set fort-h.

2. The combination, with an elevator-engine, of an air and water vesselcommunicating therewith, and with a pipe leading to a supply of elasticiiuid and provided with a valve, and a tankarranged to receive the waterdischarged from the engine and communicating through a port providedwith a checkvalve with the said vessel to discharge the water into thelatter, substantially as set forth. I

3. The combination, with the cylinder, piston, inlet, discharge, andcircula-ting pipes, and the valve device having inlet, discharge, andcirculating ports, of an air and water vessel communicating with theinlet-port of said valve device and with an air-supply pipe and anair-valve 'device in said supply-pipe, the two valve devices beingconnected to work in unison,and a tank arranged to receive the duiddischarged from the cylinder and communicating with the vessel through aport provided with a valve, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with an elevator-engine and its valve device, of anair and water vessel, an air-valve device connected to work in unisonwith that of the engine, and a tank communicating With the vesselthrough a port provided with a valve and arranged to receive the waterdischarged from the cylinder of the engine, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with an elevator-engine and Valve device, of an airand water vessel communicating with the inlet-port of said valve device,a discharge-tank communicating with the discharge-port of said device, avalve governing the communication between the tank and the vessel, and asupplypipe communicating with the vessel and provided with an air-valveconnected with' the engine-valve, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, with an elevator-engine, its circulating-pipes, andvalve device having inlet, discharge, and circulating pipes and ports,of a vessel containing a liquid and communicating at its lower part withthe inlet-port of the valve device and at the upper part with a pipeleading to au elastic duidsupply, and provided with a valve devicehaving inlet and exhaust ports, and awater-tank arranged to receive thewater discharged from the engine and communicating with said vesselthrough a port provided with a valve, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing` witnesses.

XVILLIAM E. HALE. NORMAN C. BASSETT. -Witnesses:

' W. E. CARR,

C. VALLETTE KAssoN.

TOO

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